Jess & Jeff’s Wedding at Casa Min in Vieques, Puerto Rico
Jess and Jeff’s wedding in Vieques almost looked completely different.
Pretty late in the planning process, it became obvious that their original venue just wasn’t going to be ready to host a wedding yet. Not ideal. Especially when you’re planning a destination wedding from far away and already mentally attached to a place.
Once we accepted it was time to pivot, I started sending over alternative venues around Vieques.
Jess hated all of them.
Not because they weren’t beautiful — they just weren’t her.
Jess has a really strong design perspective and a very specific vision. Her mood board was full of jewel tones, weird textures, Venus fly trap plants, spotted begonia leaves, layered candlelight, and florals that looked almost overgrown and slightly surreal. She wanted something artistic and organic with a little magical realism mixed in.
Most wedding venues are designed to work for everybody.
This wedding needed a place with personality.
Years ago, we worked with a bride whose grandmother had restored one of the oldest homes in Vieques. I still remember doing a makeup tutorial in the courtyard and thinking to myself, “I need to do weddings here someday.”
The property had recently come under new ownership, so through the Vieques coconut telegram I managed to get connected with the new stewards of the house and asked if they’d ever consider hosting weddings there.
Thankfully, they said yes.
And that’s how Jess and Jeff became one of the first weddings hosted at Casa Min.
A Hidden Wedding Venue in Historic Vieques
Casa Min feels completely different from most venues in Vieques.
The house sits in the heart of historic Vieques with this old Caribbean charm that almost feels more like Old San Juan than a beach town. The courtyard is full of massive mature trees, layered stone walkways, tucked away corners, and views overlooking the harbor.
The whole property already felt magical before we even started bringing in flowers.
While walking the venue and talking through ceremony ideas, I looked at one particular tree and immediately knew we weren’t doing a traditional arch.
We were going to build the ceremony directly into the tree itself.
So we wove florals through the trunk and branches until it looked like the tree had just naturally grown that way. Honestly, by the end it looked less like a floral installation and more like the courtyard had been waiting for a wedding all along.
Exactly the kind of weird organic magic Jess wanted.
Floral Design Inspired by Jess’s Mood Board
This was one of my favorite weddings we’ve ever designed because it pushed us creatively in such a different direction.
Nothing about the floral design was supposed to feel polished or overly traditional. We leaned heavily into texture, movement, unusual plant materials, deep colors, and arrangements that felt a little wild.
Honestly, all of us were basically trying to keep up with Jess’s mood board.
The dinner tables were layered with florals, candles, strange textures, and vintage details that somehow all worked together perfectly inside the courtyard at Casa Min.
And then there were the anatomical heart vases.
At one point while searching online for decor ideas, I found these completely bizarre 3D printed anatomical heart vases on Etsy and sent them to Jess mostly as a joke.
Instead of saying no, she immediately responded with:
“I actually love them.”
And somehow those weird little heart vases ended up being one of my favorite details from the entire wedding.
Which honestly sums up Jess and Jeff’s wedding perfectly.
Creative.
Unexpected.
A little weird.
In the best possible way.
A Reminder That Sometimes the Pivot Becomes the Best Part
Planning a wedding in Vieques requires flexibility. Especially on a small island where venues evolve constantly and logistics can change quickly.
Sometimes the original plan falls apart.
But every once in a while, the backup plan turns into something way better than what you originally imagined.
Jess and Jeff’s wedding at Casa Min ended up feeling completely personal to them — artistic, intimate, layered, and unlike any other wedding we’ve planned in Vieques so far.
And now every time I walk through that courtyard, I still look up at that tree and think:
“Yep. That’s exactly where that wedding was supposed to happen.”
Incredible Photography mostly by LaScho Studios and few my EP Anderson Photography
